UNESCO looks at bridge work

A UNESCO fact-finding visit to Prague requested to see "evidence" of sloppy workmanship on the reconstruction of Charles Bridge, as one preservation activist says he will file a lawsuit.

The UNESCO team, which arrived Jan. 27, was officially here to examine work on the Blanka tunnel which, when operational, will ease traffic congestion traveling to and from central Prague. Part of the project runs close to Prague Castle, and there have been concerns that blasting for the tunnel is damaging the castle and buildings in Prague 6 and 7, especially near the Sparta soccer team's AXA Arena.

UNESCO expressed concern over the tunnel and the lack of information coming from Prague, according to Culture Ministry spokeswoman Viktorie Plívová. A UNESCO report is due later this year.

The Charles Bridge reconstruction was not on the official UNESCO agenda, but the team insisted on meeting the head of an organization highly critical of the work. UNESCO is involved because the bridge and Prague Old Town are designated World Heritage sites.

"We managed to bring up Charles Bridge with UNESCO, and this is a victory for us since it was not on the list for the UNESCO commissioners," said Martin Kadrman, chairman of the Association for the Protection and Development of the Cultural Heritage of the Czech Republic. "The commissioners themselves asked for our presence at the mayor's office, where we handed over our reports and pictures."

Kadrman was specific about who in his opinion is to blame for the sloppy work on the bridge and said his group will take legal action.

"Responsibility for the state of reconstruction of Charles Bridge definitely lies with [Mayor] Pavel Bém and Prague City Hall. We will soon file a lawsuit."

But a leading conservationist has accused Kadrman of being a demagogue and insists work must continue or else the bridge could suffer structural damage.

"The campaign to stop the Charles Bridge reconstruction is just a way for Kadrman to become more visible," said Josef Štulc of the National Heritage Institute. "He is not an expert and does not care about Charles Bridge. He is a real demagogue. The reason for the reconstruction is to strengthen the pillars of the bridge so it can deal with floods and does not fall like in 1890. To stop the reconstruction would mean a deterioration of the bridge, and I worry that it might end up like the Villa Tugendhat in Brno, where two groups of architects argued about what to do and it took seven years before any reconstruction started."

Kadrman has said the cost of restoration work on Charles Bridge is nearly 450,000 Kč per meter, and vital documents are missing on how work should be done to the iconic structure. He organized a petition demanding an end to the current reconstruction that has already gathered more than 40,000 signatures since its launch in October 2009.

"The petition will last until construction is stopped," he said.

Kadrman is particularly concerned with the bridge's walkway and railing, whose original Petřín sandstone blocks are being discarded. According to Kadrman, the quarry from which these stones had been taken no longer exists, as it has been exhausted.

Repair work on the 15th-century structure started in August 2007, and, while the current phase is scheduled to end in 2010, few expect it will meet that deadline.

- Klára Jiřičná contributed to this report.

Tom Clifford can be reached at
tclifford@praguepost.com